Proximity Mines – Without the Spam

One of the new Weapons to QuakeLive is the Proximity Mine Launcher and strangely enough it has not had a warm welcome. The Prox Mine is not a popular weapon for many Quake players. As often as I see players on my own team throwing their mines about in a vain effort to block a passage or hallway, I rarely see people using Prox Mines as an offensive weapon. I have put together a video of very useful tactics to try and use with the Prox Mine. I’ll also talk about the CTF tactics concerning the mindset of players and why the Prox Mine plays such a big part of that. The title is a bit misleading, there is really no Ultimate Guide, as soon as a player does something perfect, another player will come along and do it faster or then do it completely different and here we have the first tactical info that I need to get across. Why would you Prox Mine the paths to your Flag?

Unless you can see the mines detonated by an enemy player, you can never be sure that that path is secure or not.

You could hide the mines on the flag platform but how long will it be until you have to go looking for more ammo?

So you might get one or two defense accolades but seasoned players will put a rocket or plasma gun fire on to the platform if given the chance.

Instead you can Mine enemy RunesHealthWeapons or even enemy DoorsBounce PadsSpawn Points. People consider their own base ‘safe haven’. If you’re running in with scout and you have mined an entire enemy corridor, you can leave via that corridor with some sense of safety as the mines let you through but are unforgiving for the chasers. It’s the disruption that mines cause that make them such an interesting weapon. When an enemy spawns in his own base and can barely get out with 60 health, it makes for infuriating play. So when you keep placing them in different places each time you can really wear down and stifle your enemy. Mines are difficult enough to land on an enemy player and otherwise the damage is a bit random due to explosion distance but Prox Mines do no damage to your teammates or to yourself, zero, zip, nada. Yet they deliver the same splash effect as rocket. Anybody who has played TFC will know when I say that Prox Mines can be used like concs. Considering the effect of Runes: Speed, Armour and Guard to dampen Rockect Jumps. It now gets very interesting, I find myself having to avoid using Doubler as I rush into enemy base and prime a mine for easy flag access or for an easy escape route. The key to Prox Jumping is figuring out where you could use more height or range on a normal Rocket Jump. A single Prox Mine will double a Rocket Jump but this has to be a prepared procedure. Prox Mines take about 2 seconds to arm themselves. So when you plant a Prox Mine you have to wait till it is ready to blow it. I have put together a Video of some of the tricks I use with the mines just to show you that mines are not just idle defense spam. Its best watched in HQ.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svMxHOugjVI

Remember Kids, it doesn’t matter if you got 5 or 50 health, if you get out with the flag you’ve done half the the work, a simple dropflag to a defender with stacked armor and health can change a game around. Hey, if anyone comes up with more examples, demo it, upload it and post it… I’ll add them here

I always use the Proximity Mine Gun in CTF for defense, but not offense. When it comes to offense, the Proximity Mine Gun is useless — the only useful thing is to attach a Proximity Mine to the enemy. Proximity Mines will be useful in Clan Arena though. Proximity Mines aren’t very useful due to its ammunition limit.